Healthcare services across the country have faced disruption after the Social Health Authority (SHA) reported a significant system failure affecting its digital health platform, leading to delays in critical pre-authorisation services.
In a public notice issued on Monday, March 2, 2026, the authority revealed that the system outage began on March 1, causing widespread downtime that has affected healthcare facilities contracted under the national health scheme.
The disruption has impacted operations supported by the Digital Health Agency, which provides the technological backbone for key SHA services.
“This is to formally notify you of a service interruption and downtime affecting the Digital Health Agency’s services, which are critical to the Social Health Authority (SHA) operations,” the notice read.
According to SHA, the service provider confirmed that a major technical incident had resulted in extensive system unavailability, directly interfering with the pre-authorisation process.
Pre-authorisation plays a key role in healthcare delivery by ensuring that hospitals and clinics obtain approval before proceeding to provide specific medical procedures, hospital admissions and specialised treatments.
The system outage has therefore forced many facilities to adjust their workflows while verifying the eligibility of patients and seeking treatment approvals manually.
“This outage has interrupted essential healthcare service delivery across contracted facilities,” SHA said, acknowledging the strain placed on healthcare providers and patients.
“We understand the critical nature of these services for your daily operations and patient care, and we sincerely apologise for the significant inconvenience and disruption this is causing,” the authority added.
SHA also assured healthcare providers that efforts to restore services are underway. Technical teams from the authority and the Digital Health Agency have been mobilised to investigate the cause of the failure and reinstate full system functionality.
“Our technical teams, in close collaboration with the Digital Health Agency, are fully mobilised and working with the highest urgency to identify the root cause and restore full functionality as quickly as possible,” the statement read.
The authority further urged healthcare providers to exercise patience, promising to issue regular updates. The incident has brought to light the growing dependence on digital platforms in healthcare delivery and the risks posed by system failures to patient care continuity.
